On Thursday, a meeting was held where Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, Jayant Patil, Balasaheb Thorat, Eknath Shinde, Subhash Desai and Ashok Chavan were present. Reportedly, the decision to extend the lockdown was taken at the meeting.

A senior Minister had told FPJ: “There was unanimous view that the lockdown needs to be extended after May 17 up to May 31. The special focus will be given on strict implementation of lockdown norms in red zone and containment areas while further relaxations will be given in orange and green zones in the state. The objective is to get the economy rolling.’’

Of the 36 districts in the state, 14 fall in the red zone, 16 in orange zone and 6 in green zone. This Lockdown 4.0 will be more stringent in 14 red zones including Mumbai and the earlier concessions given in orange and green zones excluding containment zones will continue.

Earlier, more than 40,000 industrial units have reopened. Also, home delivery of liquor sale has been permitted in areas except containment zones.

Meanwhile, the state on Saturday recorded 1,606 new COVID-19 cases and 67 deaths, including 41 in Mumbai, taking the case count to 30,706 and the number of fatalities to 1,135, state health department said.

A total of 524 patients were discharged from hospitals, taking the total number of the recovered cases to 7,088, a statement said.

Of the total cases, Mumbai alone accounts for 18,555 patients and 696 deaths. The Mumbai and Metropolitan Region (MMR) has reported a total of 23,193 cases and 768 deaths. Another hotspot Pune has reported 3302 cases and 179 deaths, it said.

"The state has a total of 1516 containment zones. A total of 3,34,558 people are under home quarantine and 17,048 in institutional quarantine," it stated.